Engagement Marketing Can Change the Way You Sell! by Larry Dillon, CEO Engagement marketing has become a critical tool in helping companies magnify their sales. At InsightPRM, we have seen companies grow from a few hundred clients to over 500,000 in less than 10 years using these simple techniques. What is engagement marketing? Let me answer that in a roundabout way. We recently surveyed 1000 businesses in North America and Europe—everything from banking to IT Services. We asked them to state the value most important to buyers today. The number 2 response was Price, but the number 1 response was Trust—maybe not so surprising in today’s information-packed marketplace. In an age when you can find out everything you need to know about a company in a few minutes online, trust may be hard to establish and easy to lose. Building trust may therefore be the most significant cornerstone of modern marketing and sales. Are the most successful companies today asking, “How can we help our clients?” or are they wondering, “How can we make more money?” As focuses shift, opportunities to build trust may be lost. If you are not surprising, amazing and delighting your customers and prospects, your competitors might be. Why not build trust by offering something of value to your prospects for free? By providing useful information, you can save your prospects time and money, assist them in growing their business, or help them to avoid typical mistakes that companies make when purchasing or deploying your services. […]

Your company needs a 15-second statement.

by Shannon F.

It may seem obvious, but you and your salespeople should have something succinct and stylish to say about your company. You have limited time to get your message across to potential clients, especially if you are making cold calls. How can you wow them in 15 seconds, pique their interest, and get them to ask questions? By delivering a word-perfect introductory statement that sounds off-the-cuff. It’s harder than it sounds—just try explaining what makes your company stand out, in one or two sentences, without thinking about it first. Chances are that you’ll either stutter or come out with a generic-sounding statement like, “XYZ Corp. is the best at what we do because we provide the best customer service, and we are simply the best.” Right. Here are some Dos and Don’ts for developing a statement that will make your prospects stop and pay attention.

Do: Mention your company’s greatest accomplishment. Have you won a notable award, handled a particularly daunting challenge, or gained an important and influential client? Make that part of your value statement. By sticking to the facts, you can’t go wrong. Example: Instead of saying, “We’re the most trustworthy moving company around,” say, “We moved the LA Lakers to their new headquarters!”

Do: Identify what makes your company unique. There are likely dozens or even hundreds of companies that do exactly what you do, and each one thinks that they are special. Never generalize. Instead, give an actual example of why your company is different from your competition. Example: Instead of, “We go the extra mile,” say something like, “We have saved our clients thousands of dollars with our thorough risk analysis.”

Do: Customize your statement. If you do a little research on your prospects, you can tailor your statement to address their needs. For example, if you are cold-calling a sports management company, say: “We offer the most diverse ergonomic furniture solutions around, including workstations for active people.”

Don’t: Memorize the statement to death. No one responds to robots. Yes, you should practice over and over, but never forget to inject warmth and enthusiasm into the statement whenever you say it. The 5000th time you say it should sound like the first time. Why not come up with several variations to cycle through?

Keep in mind that knowing what to say and saying it with confidence will bring you success. Find out what works through trial and error if you have to, but then stick to the script that gives you results.